UAE, Pakistan pledge to boost economic, investment relations

Helal Mohammed Al Hameli, Deputy Director-General of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has received Dr Syed Qaiser Anis, President of the Pakistan Business Professional Council — Abu Dhabi (PBPC), at the Chamber’s tower in Abu Dhabi.

Dr Hadi Shahid, Founding Member of the PBPC, Mohammed Eqbal Naseem, Vice President of the PBPC, and Sadia Rehan, Board Member of the PBPC, also attended the meeting.

The meeting comes as an extension to previous ones both sides held to discuss the means of increasing trade and investment cooperation between businesses in both countries. During the meeting, President of the PBPC commended the strong and deep relations between the two countries, highlighting the need to strengthen the economic cooperation relations between the two sides and to seize the potential investment opportunities by businesses in both countries.

Dr Anis pointed to the prominent role of bilateral meetings in sharing the knowledge, exchanging experiences, pinpointing the challenges before Pakistani entrepreneurs, and finding possible solutions that can contribute to overcoming such challenges.

For his part, the Director-General of the Abu Dhabi Chamber welcomed the representatives of the PBPC, praising their visit, which would contribute to increasing the cooperation between the Abu Dhabi Chamber and the Pakistani investors in Abu Dhabi and to enhancing the business environment in the emirate.

Al Hameli expressed the readiness of the Chamber to provide the facilities necessary to bring the bilateral relations between the two sides to new levels and to activate the communication channels between the relevant authorities.

Mohammed Hilal Al Mheiri recently held a video conference meeting with Dr Mohammed Shukri Mohammed Saeed, Chairman of the Investment Authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government and Ahmed Al Dhaheri, the UAE Consul General in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

They discussed ways of strengthening economic and business relations between the business sector in both Abu Dhabi and the Kurdistan Region.

Dr Shukri commended the efforts of the Abu Dhabi Chamber and the UAE Consulate in the Kurdistan Region for organising this meeting to discuss the investment opportunities available to UAE companies in the region, which would open up new horizons for bilateral economic cooperation on many levels.

During the meeting, Dr Shukri addressed the most important sectors included in the new investment law in the region based on the diversification of income sources at many levels. He pointed out that the new plan includes dividing the region into 11 industrial zones, and provides more than 1,000 promising investment opportunities, especially since the industrial sector is one of the most important economic tributaries in Iraqi Kurdistan, providing more than 90% of Iraq’s steel needs and many others.

Dr Saeed also pointed out that the new investment law aims to develop the infrastructure sector including roads, services and railways, as well as the tourism sector, taking advantage of the region’s picturesque geographical nature, as well as the availability of vast areas of fertile land suitable for agricultural investment for Emirati investors.

For his part, Al Muheiri thanked the UAE Consul General for his tireless efforts in strengthening economic and trade cooperation between the business communities of the UAE and the Kurdistan Region.

WAM